Artist Profile: Big Black Delta

Electro pop act Big Black Delta began as an experiment, when LA transplant and Mellowdrone founder Jonathan Bates decided he needed a break from the band aesthetic. Buying a used laptop from friend Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails, Sonoio) and began playing with sound, twisting, bending and contorting to create a musical style not bound by gravity or any one instrument. “Give me anything, and I’ll make it work. Especially if it’s stringed,”Bates says.

Combine this penchant for experimentation with a love of UFO folklore and you have the otherworldly coolness that is Big Black Delta, made up of Bates and live drummers Mahsa Zargaran and Amy Wood.

Bates’ ambition to stretch the boundaries of pop can be heard in sonic stunners like “Huggin’ And A Kissin’.” Driven by whiplash-inducing drums, atmospheric, searing electronic sounds and robotic bass, the track sounds like Depeche Mode on steroids (a very good thing in case you were wondering).